ArticleNature microbiology2020
Epigenomic characterization of Clostridioides difficile finds a conserved DNA methyltransferase that mediates sporulation and pathogenesis.
Article in Nature microbiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 115 citations in OpenAlex.
- A single DNA methylation site regulates cell fate during Clostridioides difficile sporulation.PLoS pathogens · 2026Article
- Comparative genomics and methylome profiling ofMicrobial genomics · 2026Article
- Epigenetic phase variation in the gut microbiome enhances bacterial adaptation.Cell host & microbe · 2026Article
- Conditioning chemotherapy exposure is associated with epigenetic modifications inResearch square · 2026Article
- Molecular basis of linezolid resistance inAntimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2026Article
- Article
- Conditioning chemotherapy exposure is associated with epigenetic modifications inmedRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- MPore: database-driven identification of active methyltransferases in prokaryotic genomes from nanopore sequencing.Bioinformatics advances · 2026Article
- Penicillin-binding proteins exhibit functional redundancy during asymmetric cell division inJournal of bacteriology · 2025Article
- Inhibition ofACS omega · 2025Article
- Long-read metagenomics for strain tracking after faecal microbiota transplant.Nature microbiology · 2025Article
- Long-read methylome analysis of Oleidesulfovibrio alaskensis G20 biofilm under copper stress.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The emerging role of DNA methylation in the pathogenicity of bacterial pathogens.Journal of bacteriology · 2025Review
- Inhibition ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Long read metagenomics-based precise tracking of bacterial strains and genomic changes after fecal microbiota transplantation.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Deciphering the RNA-based regulation mechanism of the phage-encoded AbiF system in Clostridioides difficile.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- Article
- Metagenomic global survey and in-depth genomic analyses of Ruminococcus gnavus reveal differences across host lifestyle and health status.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Quinoline-based compounds can inhibit diverse enzymes that act on DNA.Cell chemical biology · 2024Article
- Review
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
31 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Clostridioides (formerly Clostridium) difficile is a leading cause of healthcare-associated infections. Although considerable progress has been made in the understanding of its genome, the epigenome of C. difficile and its functional impact has not been systematically explored. Here, we perform a comprehensive DNA methylome analysis of C. difficile using 36 human isolates and observe a high level of epigenomic diversity. We discovered an orphan DNA methyltransferase with a well-defined specificity, the corresponding gene of which is highly conserved across our dataset and in all of the approximately 300 global C. difficile genomes examined. Inactivation of the methyltransferase gene negatively impacts sporulation, a key step in C. difficile disease transmission, and these results are consistently supported by multiomics data, genetic experiments and a mouse colonization model. Further experimental and transcriptomic analyses suggest that epigenetic regulation is associated with cell length, biofilm formation and host colonization. These findings provide a unique epigenetic dimension to characterize medically relevant biological processes in this important pathogen. This study also provides a set of methods for comparative epigenomics and integrative analysis, which we expect to be broadly applicable to bacterial epigenomic studies.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.